BETHEL — With their numbers of volunteers dwindling, some area snowmobile clubs are hoping more people who like to snowmobile will step up to help with both trail and equipment maintenance and club management.

Some also hope to share more of the work with ATV clubs, and possibly cross-country skiers.

Representatives from several snowmobile clubs met recently at a breakfast sponsored by the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce.

After that meeting several club representatives shared their concerns for the future. They are similar to the worries of other volunteer organizations and services across the state.

“‘Very few younger people are joining clubs,” said Joe Bernier of Upton, a member of the Stateline Snowmobile Club. “Most of the people out there working on trails are the same ones who were out there 25 or 30 years ago, and we are not getting any younger.”

He said while there has been more sled traffic in recent years, funding has not increased and there is little financial support from area businesses ‘that benefit substantially from snowmobilers.’

Stateline club president Bob Pepler of Upton said that although there are no ITS trails running through Upton, his club is still responsible for grooming about 60 miles of trails. The club has 22 members, about a half dozen of whom do grooming, he said.

Pepler said that while the club membership has remained steady since he joined in 2007, “We’re aging out.”

He said younger snowmobilers like to go out and ride the trails, but generally don’t volunteer to help maintain them.

Greenstock view

Robert Lowell of Bethel, president of the Greenstock Snowsports Snowmobile Club, said, ‘I don’t think people realize what it takes to maintain trails.’

He also said the club’s four trail grooming machines are at least 20 years old.

One of the Greenstock groomers is Grayson Wakefield, who, in his mid-thirties, is the youngest statecertified groomer in the club by 15 years. He’s been a club member for eight years.

Wakefield said that during the 1980s and 1990s, the club grew significantly, ‘with more than 50 active volunteer members attending monthly meetings to plan trail work and related projects during each season.’

Today, he said, the club has continued to maintain the same overall trail system, but the number of active volunteering members has declined dramatically.

Currently, there are roughly 10 active members that maintain the trails, with other work being hired out for larger projects and Snow Cat repairs.

He said each section of their trails (usually about 10 miles) must be groomed two or three times a week, and it usually takes four hours each time.

The story is the same on the club management side, he said. ‘Our monthly meetings are attended, on average, by five or six members,’ said Wakefield. ‘Next month, we’ll be electing club officers for next year, and there are currently no nominees for the position of secretary, one of the most basic positions to be filled.’

From a financial standpoint, the state typically reimburses 60 percent of club expenses, he said. The rest is earned through fundraising. The money, said Wakefield, is ‘spent directly at local businesses in the form of purchases for fuel, lumber, hardware, parts and mechanical repair services. Trail maintenance, brushing, bridge construction and signing are all done by volunteers.’

Wakefield said several local businesses have recently joined his club and offered donations. But, he said, ‘while the materials and monetary donations are helpful and very much appreciated, our club needs more local volunteers to help with management of the club as well as trail and equipment maintenance.’

Share with XC, ATV?

There may also be potential for sharing more trail maintenance with other recreationists who use trails. Pepler said some of the warmer weather work is currently shared with the local ATV club, of which Bernier is president. Pepler said there may also be a possibility of sharing more trails and maintenance with crosscountry skiers.

Steve Wight, long active in the cross-country ski business, agreed. He said in an e-mail Monday, ‘I think that it is time to join forces with snowmobile clubs, ATV clubs, cross-country ski trail providers, mountain bike groups, and any other groups involved in trail based recreation to find ways to work together on trail construction and maintenance. Trails are expensive, both in dollars invested and in labor expended. In any area dependent on tourism it falls on the local trail clubs to provide the infrastructure that brings users to town. Those users then buy food and fuel, stay in hotels, B&Bs, rental houses, etc. providing jobs for area residents. We all need to understand the true value of trails and to find a means for spreading the cost to all who stand to gain from their existence.

‘Multiple use of the trails can be a tricky issue, but that subject needs to be discussed as well. Perhaps we can site some community trails that will enable all trail users to easily access town businesses together but separate outside the towns to travel their own routes. We are certainly not the first area to address this opportunity. There are some great models around the country that should be looked at.’

For more information about the Greenstock club, visit the club Facebook page or contact Lowell at 824-2811. For more on the Upton club contact Pepler at pep1dom@megalink.net.

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